Color TV brand popularity - 1960's

[whirlcool]

The question is whose television sets did Wards sell?

It's kind of screwy. Cortron Industries was a company that made Wards television sets for them. Admiral bought Cortron. Were the sets then supplied by Cortron designs, or did Admiral dump those designs and provide Wards with their Admiral designs?

And then in 1970 Admiral became a spec builder of TV's for the Emerson & Dumont brands. So this made Admiral one of the largest of the private label manufacturers.

It seems after Admiral left the consumer electronics market, Montgomery wards bought their sets from different manufacturers such as RCA, Sony, JVC, etc.

At the time Admiral was bought out by Rockwell International. They saw the imports from Asia already eating into the American market and got out of the appliance and television markets quickly, selling them off to somebody else.

[this post was last edited: 11/14/2011-14:54]

 

[whirlcool]

And the largest supplier of Color CRTs was:

Name Number
RCA .... 2,300 (in thousands of units)
Sylvania/GTE ..... 1,150
Zenith ..... 1,100

So I take it that a lot of different brand sets had Sylvania picture tubes in them?

 

[rp2813]

The guy that fixed my 1950 Admiral advised that in the early days of TV, Admiral was right up there with RCA for quality and market share. 

 

If we rely on the messed-with-for-TV version of Admiral history per "Mad Men," in the early 60's the brand was slipping and the suggestion from the advertising agency was to target the demographic that was buying their products, which was the segment of the population that fell somewhere below the middle class.

 

This would agree with Ward's marketing of lower quality appliances, electronics and power tools that cost less than the better quality items that Sears was known for.

 

[paulg]

Wards = Hoffman/Cortron, Wells-Gardner, Admiral

In short, the 1960's Montgomery Ward color TVs were often Hoffman -
But there were many Montgomery Ward televisions made by Wells-Gardner too. Look for models beginning with WGEC or WG for Wells Gardner Electronics Corp.
That Wards Airline "5235" was likely the "WG5235" which would make it a Wells-Gardner set.
Wells-Gardner still operates in Chicago. Warwick, Wells-Gardner and Admiral were the three big OEMs in Chicago. Boy, with Zenith and Motorola too - Chicago seemed like THE place for television manufacturing.
I recall that after about 1970, Admiral chassis seemed to drift in their design style. I suspect they were using some Hoffman designs although i cannot prove that. (And why not? They owned them.) Rockwell International didn't come into play until about 1974.
In the 1970s, Admiral's designs became more refined under Rockwell International. I remember that Admiral and Wards TVs then became largely identical.
Admiral seemed to make some iffy decisions near the end. Their 1965-1970 picture-tube manufacturing plant opened when rectangular picture tubes were in short supply - ran into issues when the industry became over-supplied. Their water system was allegedly sabotaged and the tube quality dropped. I believe the phosphors wouldn't stick.
Admiral bought Hoffman/Cortron, a fading color-tv manufacturer in about 1970, just as the Japanese sets were taking hold.
Admiral supplied CARTRIVISION sets under Wards, Admiral and Emerson brands but that recording system went bust very quickly. This was about 1972. By 1974 Admiral was sunk.
Losers, losers, losers so it seemed.
I found Admiral an interesting company. I worked with quite of few ex-employees of that company. They seemed to do a good job of remaining marketable but went about it in somewhat screwy ways.
Did you know Admiral made their own microwave ovens in the 1970s? That seemed like a smart decision as Magic Chef continued to do so after purchasing Admiral in 1979. Wards used SHARP to make the microwaves through the 1970s and essentially through to the end.
Unrelated clarification: When CBS decided to enter the TV manufacturing business they bought AIR-KING, a small TV manufacturer. Air-King brand went away and was replaced by the CBS brand.
The tubes used in the sets were CBS-HYTRON

 

[whirlcool]

Hey Paul, thanks for the enlightenment.
While researching this, I found that Cortron was already making Hoffman electronics when Admiral bought them. I remember the big Admiral sign, not too far away from the big Motorola sign on I-294 around Franklin Park, just before you got to the ORD exit. I mean these were big Las Vegas style boards with animation on them.

Yes, I did notice that lots of color tv manufacturing was done in the midwest and especially in Chicago. Admiral also had a plant in Quincy, IL. And later on built their televisions in Taiwan with a division called Admiral Overseas Manufacturing Company.

Admiral had quite a few fans 1964-1968 or so. I knew quite a number of people with them. But search Ebay or other places where vintage console type of televisions are sold and you don't see many Admirals or Magnavoxes or even Sylvania's or GE's. Usually it's either RCA or Zenith still available. Sure other brands are available, but the models available today are Japanese models sold under the old brand name.

I was surprised that Admiral went out of business so quickly. All of the stores we shopped that carried RCA or Zenith also carried Admiral. It was when you got to your small repair shop that also sold new TV's is where you'd find only one brand or maybe two. It's either a Zenith shop or and RCA shop.

 

[goatfarmer]

Man, that's one scary looking clown! Looks like a J W Gacy pic!

 

I remember that Admiral sign, along I 294. We saw it on our way to Wisconsin for a vacation. That thing was there for years it seems.

 

[whirlcool]

I think

that this thread is getting too long, especially for people who have slower connections. Please make any new responses to Color TV brand popularity - 1960's Part 2.

 

[rp2813]

Admiral

I didn't find a new thread, so am posting here.

 

I was going to mention Admiral's bigger-than-Vegas animated display smack in the middle of Times Square.  You can't miss it in most of the vintage TS film footage.  Only a company that was riding high could afford what was arguably the ultimate in prime advertising space for the entire free world.

 

[whirlcool]

In fact if you look closely, the Admiral sign in Times Square is right above the Braniff sign!

 

[spankomatic]

We had one like this (1964 Magnavox) when I was growing up.

 

[spankomatic]

Oh! Can't forget the remote!

 

[launderess]

You Boys And Your Toys (Electronics)

*LOL*

I could sit here all day listening to y'all go back and forth with this interesting conversation, but there are a few things I should be rinsing out. *LOL*

My color television story? Boring and simple. We had a B/W set (Emerson) until one day Mother Dear redecorated the living room and then we had a nice new Zenith color television with wood cabinet.

That wood cabinet was about as close as one got to the thing (when polishing as part of one's household chores), as the old B/W set was banished downstairs to the rumpus room for we children to watch. The living-room and thus color set were strictly off limits for us, though we were allowed in when one or both parents were watching something. *LOL*

 

[rp2813]

Magnavox Remote

Oh yeah Jim, I remember friends had a portable with that same remote.  Miles of button travel and at the end of it, resistance, a thunk and then it went "Psssshhhhh."

 

Apologies for adding to this thread.

 

Now everybody click over to part two!

 

[passatdoc]

Zenith Space Command remote hijacked by a dog

We had relatives in San Bernardino with a Zenith color tv perched in a built-in custom closet occupying a full wall (opposite the bed) of the master bedroom. They had a miniature (not toy) poodle with an ID tag and license tag on his collar. These medals would jingle as the dog walked around, and sometimes he'd hit the right frequency and turn the tv on or off by accident. I remember watching the tv, the dog would walk in and either the channel would change or the tv would turn itself off.